I love to express what I feel called to say. Writing helps me to open up my heart and do that. I hope that what I write helps you in some way. I hope it makes you think, encourages you, or inspires you. If it challenges you or if you disagree, I hope you know that I respect your right to have a different point of view.
Hardheartedness doesn’t rock! A proud and hard heart makes Jesus both mad and sad. (Mark 3:5) How does your heart make Jesus feel? (Proverbs 16:5)
There is hardness in your heart when you are:
Proud,
Bitter,
Selfish,
Envious,
Boastful,
Dishonest,
Unkind,
Self-righteous,
Cynical,
Ungrateful,
Focused on self-protection,
Name calling,
Blaming others,
Condemning people,
Unwilling to say, “I’m sorry.”
Unforgiving,
Vengeful,
Uncaring
Insensitive,
Stone-faced,
Feeling like you’re a robot,
Unloving,
Refusing to cry,
Seldom smiling,
Unrepentant.
People look at your outward appearance, but God looks at your heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) He wants to heal the hardness in your broken malfunctioning heart. (Psalm 147:3) Let Him remove any stoniness from your heart and make you compassionate and tenderhearted. (Ezekiel 36:26) Sincerely and fully open your heart to God and allow Him to purify you from within (Hebrews 10:22) and to fill you with His Joy. (John 15:11) A joyful heart is good medicine. (Proverbs 17:22) Throughout each day let Jesus train and empower you to be humble and joyful in heart. (Matthew 11:29)
I’ve felt — and consistently feel — so intensely loved by God that I seek to settle for nothing less than His will for me. (Matthew 6:33) Being consciously aware of God’s fervent and sacrificial love for me has made my life about the great pursuit of putting my all into pressing closer and closer toward Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:14) and the purifying fire of His Spirit. (Matthew 3:11-12)
Jesus came for us all (John 3:16) to set us free (John 8:32) from our pride (James 4:6) and our sin (Matthew 1:21) so that we can be empowered (1 Corinthians 4:20) to humble ourselves, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways, (2 Chronicles 7:14)) and be continually led and directed by His Spirit (Romans 8:14) instead of by our own feelings, desires, and opinions. (Luke 9:23)
The way to get to know Jesus isn’t by watching, supporting, and being a fan of a streaming series about a fictionalized Jesus. It’s by opening the door of your heart to the living resurrected Jesus Christ (Revelation 3:20) and allowing Him to come in, live within you, (Colossians 1:27) and take direct daily control of your life by His Spirit. (Romans 8:14)
Perhaps the greatest source of clutter in life is self-focus. It clutters our mind and our heart with our own thoughts, feelings, and desires until we have little room for anything else. How can we escape from the clutter of self-focus? Discipleship is the key. Here are a few of the liberating dynamics of discipleship:
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and always allow Him to establish your plans. (Proverbs 16:3) Follow Jesus, not your own desires. (Matthew 4:19)
Ask God to give you a Bible verse. (Psalm 119:11) When a Scripture comes to your mind write it down. Read it, ponder it, and quote it. (Joshua 1:8) Do what it says to do, throughout the day. (Matthew 7:24) Let it work deep inside of you. (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you how to He wants you to apply it in your daily life. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) Be a doer of the word and not just a hearer. (James 1:22-25)
Protect your heart from unforgiveness (Ephesians 4:32) and bitterness. (Hebrews 12:15) Don’t ever go to bed angry. (Ephesians 4:26)
Control your thoughts. (Philippians 4:8) Strive to make every thought you have obey Jesus. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Always seek first the kingdom of God — God’s invisible (Luke 17:20-21) inner governance of your life — and His right living. (Matthew 6:33)
Look unto Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2) Train yourself to stay focused on the risen Jesus throughout each day. Listen to Him speak to you (John 10:27) and do what He says. (John 2:5) Learn to keep the presence of “Christ in you,” (Colossians 1:27) in your conscious awareness and to let His words burn in your heart. (Luke 24:13-35)
Make demonstrating God’s love your goal. (1 Corinthians 14:1) Love one another, (John 13:34) even your enemies. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Deny yourself by keeping your focus off of what you want. Take up your cross daily by choosing to die to your own desires. and follow Jesus by hanging out with Him and obeying Him day and night. (Luke 9:23)
Find many more of the dynamics of daily discipleship by reading the Bible every single day. Let it burn in your heart (Luke 24:32) by reading it like a love letter directly from God to you. Avoid analyzing it and picking it apart as if it was a scholarly textbook. It’s not. (Hebrews 4:12)
I love doves because they represent the Holy Spirit. When God the Son — Jesus — was baptized, God the Holy Spirit came on Him like a dove, and God the Father spoke: “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
The Practicality of the Fruit of the Spirit
Confrontation without communication causes conflict. Before you criticize people compassionately listen to them. Hear where they are hurting and then speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15) Express the firmness of truth with gentleness, kindness, and self-control, instead of with harsh words. (Proverbs 15:1) If you’re patient with people, you can calm a quarrel (Proverbs 15:8) by faithfully demonstrating (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) God’s goodness, peace, and joy. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
My Joy Poem
God the Holy Spirit Often releases a Yahoo and a Yippee Deep down inside of me Supernaturally. That’s the joy of Yahweh! The joy of the Lord is My strength! Hallelujah! (Nehemiah 8:10)
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is where Christ’s light is shined. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
I want a church where I can see Jesus freely working in and through everyday people, not just hear another lecture about Him. Here’s the poem I wrote about how church can shine:
Church should be so much more Than a preacher preaching, And a congregation Passively listening — The singing of some songs Money dropped in a bag, And a quick departure As we try to make sure We get to lunch on time. I believe that’s only A weak caricature Of what God really wants Christ-followers to do When they come together: (1 Corinthians 14:26) Encourage one another. (Thessalonians 5:11) Teach and admonish one another. (Colossians 3:16) Speak truth to one another. (Ephesians 4:24) Submit to one another. (Ephesians 5:21) Confess your sins to each other And pray for one another. (James 5:16) Bear one another’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2) Be at peace with one another. (Mark 9:50) Rejoice with those who rejoice And weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15) Worship in Spirit and truth. (John 4:24) (Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.)
If Christians will praise and adore the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and put our focus on His presence instead of on a preacher in a pulpit, we will participate in the power of His Spirit (Acts 1:8) — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) We will taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)
Let Jesus put His shine on your face. Let Him polish your heart with His presence. Let Him radiate His love by your words and demonstrate His mercy through your actions. If there is a God, you’re going to have to answer to Him when you die. Why not get started now?
Don’t just hear about religion in a church service. Let the risen Jesus Christ live inside of you and radiate His presence everywhere you go!
Does it get any better than this? Yes! Life gets better when you make it better.
Life gets better when you spread kindness to everyone you encounter, whether in person, on the phone, by texting, or through social media. Kindness is a boomerang. Unkindness is too. The more you send them out the more they return to you. Unkindness produces unhappiness. If you want a happy kind of life, be kind!
Life gets better when you think better thoughts. Exchange worry for “worglee.” Replace fear with hope. Instead of thinking about and dreading bad things that might happen, ponder and anticipate good things that may occur.
Life gets better when you get rid of the things that give you guilt. How do you do that? Align your life with your conscience instead of with your guilt producing desires and behaviors. If something makes you feel guilty stop doing it. Humbly apologize to and ask everyone you’ve wronged to forgive you — including God. Do whatever you can to heal the wrong you’ve done and make it right. Rather than trying to forgive yourself, open up to, accept, receive, and live daily in the fullness of the forgiveness that God offers you through the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Life gets better when you forgive everyone who has offended you or done you wrong. How do you do that? Bless them by speaking and praying good things for them. If you do that every time they come to your mind, your grudge will gradually go away. Your chains of unforgiveness will come undone. Your life will be better.
Life gets better when you allow Jesus to put His supernatural joy within you and you let His Spirit freely flow from and ceaselessly pour out of your innermost being like rivers. Jesus said: “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” He also said: “Whoever believes in (relies on) Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Jesus is speaking to you both with words He puts in your mind and beyond words. Continually listen to His still small voice. Allow the risen Jesus to personally lead and direct you to His incredible joy!
Are you ready for a better life? Go for it. Daily, little by little, train yourself to live better, “Seek first the kingdom (inner government) of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
No snack, no concert, no sporting event, no movie, no series, no text, no class, no degree, no success, no self-help, no friend, no income level, no savings account, no president, no patriotism, no military action, or no religion can set you free from anxiety and bring you long-lasting inner peace. Only the supernatural God can do that.
There is Someone supernatural who wants to produce ongoing peace in your inner life. Will you let Him?
God’s nature is supernatural. You can’t get close to God without encountering the supernatural activity of His Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6) When you do experience God, you can either quench His Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19) or be led by His Spirit. (Romans 8:14)
God is eternal with no beginning and no end. He created all of creation — nature and everything that physically exists, but He’s not a part of it. He’s beyond nature. He is supernatural.
If there was a big bang blast, God created the super compressed small blob of subatomic matter and then blew it to smithereens. Then He individually directed each one of the uncreated neutrons, protons, electrons, quarks, fermions, leptons, bosons, and gluons that the hand-sized blob somehow mysteriously contained, to fly into their proper places and arrange themselves into the universe and all that it physically contains. But was all that physically exists really randomly created by an uncaused fireworks show? Who or what created the supposed densely condensed material and caused it to vastly expand and turn itself into everything that physically exists?
When we look away from planet earth and behold the night sky, we’re observing inexplicably more than the light from the uncaused explosion of uncreated subatomic matter that unguidedly assembled itself into stars, planets, asteroids, comets, galaxies, and nebulae. We are seeing an infinitesimally teeny, tiny speck of the beauty and the grandeur of God’s creation! O how small we are!
Your body is physical. It had a beginning called conception. The life of your body will eventually come to an end in death. Then it will finally decompose and disappear into dust. Yet your body isn’t all of you. Something within your body is right now aware that you are reading this. Your brain isn’t just electronically processing what I have written. You are consciously pondering it. What is that conscious part of you that no machine has? It’s your eternal soul. It’s who and what you really are. Your soul is your never-ending identity.
Did an uncreated little blob really blow itself up and cause everything that physically exists to come into existence? Hum. Sounds farfetched and anxiety producing to me. However, trusting in and daily relying on the Creator allows Him to create great inner peace within me!
Here’s some crazy looking hope for a world that’s truly crazy. My “crazy” business keeps me sane. It’s a simple business — the daily business of focusing on and being continually led by the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. It doesn’t make any sense to most people, but throughout all the ups and downs of my life, the crazy business of following Jesus keeps me mentally healthy.I am a fool for Christ. (1 Corinthians 4:10)
My crazy business motto is “Take up your cross daily.” To take up your cross daily is to deny your own desires so that you can devote every day to hearing and doing what Jesus desires for you. (Luke 9:23) My business goal is to let the risen Jesus release the radiant riches of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in and through my daily life. (John 10:10)
Jesus is my daily bread. (Matthew 6:11) He’s the living bread who came to give me life (John 6:51) — the bread of life. (John 6:48) I partake of His presence throughout each day. (Psalm 34:8)
My business CEO is Jesus. Jesus is speaking. Listen. (Luke 9:35) Jesus wants to be your CEO, your Lord, your God. (John 20:28) His sheep can hear and obey His voice. (John 10:27) True Christianity is a daily delight, not a Sunday morning duty! (1 Peter 1:8)
So why don’t churches present radical obedience to the risen Jesus as a crazy daily delight? That’s because church and ekklesia are not the same thing.
The New Testament word for gatherings of the body of Christ isn’t “church.” It is the Greek word “ekklesia” which was the town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities where anybody present could openly speak.
The early Christians met ekklesia-style as described in 1 Corinthians 14:26. Gradually, Christians moved away from the ekklesia-style gathering where Christ-followers were free to obey the Bible’s 50+ one another commandments. It was replaced with the classroom-style one man lecture meeting that we call a church service. Without the Spirit-prompted energy of Christians testifying (Revelation 12:11) about their daily encounters with Jesus and their daily God-sightings, crazy-love Christianity morphed into dry, passive religion.
How to daily live supernaturally:
1) Recognize that your life itself is supernatural. 2) Understand that God Himself is supernatural. 3) Observe how God is supernaturally working within you to draw you closer to Himself. 4) Ponder and surrender to God’s presence. 5) Obey the inner promptings that God puts on your heart.
Religiosity Is a poor substitute For true intimacy With the risen Jesus!
As a little boy I loved playing with toy ships and boats in the bathtub. I had several of them but as time went by, I lost them all. Far too many Christians have lost their “ships.” Here are some powerful “ship” words that describe a true relationship with the risen Jesus. Don’t let your life get shipwrecked!
Citizenship in God’s Kingdom (Colossians 1:13) calls you to continually live your life in:
Fellowship with Jesus, (1 Corinthians 1:9) Friendship with Jesus, (John 15:15) Close relationship with Jesus, (John 14:19-20) Discipleship with Jesus, (John 13:35) Kinship with Jesus, (Ephesians 1:5) Citizenship in Christ’s kingdom, (Colossians 1:13) And in full surrender and obedience to His Headship (Colossians 1:18) With pleasure! (John 15:11)
Church membership and/or attendance aren’t the same thing as citizenship in Christ’s kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom has the word “if” in it. God has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Jesus — “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” (Colossians 1:21-23)
My mission, my goal, and my deepest desires are to build my life on the best pillars. I want to build my life — my thoughts, feelings, desires, words, and behaviors — on the firm foundation of solid rock, not on sand that shifts and sinks. If you like my mission, here’s how you can apply it in your life.
Keep yourself aware of and focused on “Christ in you. the hope of glory.” Let His presence and the leadings, (Galatians 5:18) the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) and the fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) of His Spirit, and His direct personal revelation to you, (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) and His wisdom written in the Bible, (Hebrews 4:12) be the pillars that you are faithfully building the house of your life on. (Proverbs 9:1)
To seek first the kingdom — and pillars — of God (Matthew 6:33) allow Jesus to live inside of you (Colossians 1:27) and to be your absolute King, (John 18:37/Revelation 19:16) your risen Lord, and your glorious God. (John 28:20) Let Him rule, govern, and direct you from within, moment-by-moment. (Romans 8:14)
Christianity built on the sand of routine religion isn’t the same thing as Christianity that is built on the rock of direct, personal, ongoing revelation from (Matthew 16:17) and radical obedience to (John 14:15) the risen Jesus Christ. A sermon prepared by a mind might possibly reach a mind, but words shared from the heart as led by the Spirit can release God’s living water in people. Are you building your spiritual house on the sand or on the rock? (Matthew 7:24-27)
If you’re unwilling to forgive, (Matthew 6:15) to bless and pray for, (Luke 6:28) and to love your enemies (Luke 6:26-27) you’re building your life on sand. You don’t yet fully know what it means to love!
Beware of the sand and deceptions that are all around you. I have chosen to adore, follow, and obey the risen Jesus Himself as described by the Bible, and not to watch or be influenced by a show called “The Chosen” that distorts and fictionalizes who Jesus is and the things that He said and did! I have chosen to continually savor and devour the Bible and to faithfully stick with what it says about Jesus. I strive to continually discern and to avoid all of the deceptions about Jesus that religion and society are prompting and throwing at us.
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Fill Your Mind and Your Heart With Hope 